


Merry Christmas to You

by FallacyFallacy



Series: The Annual Christmas Carol Fic [1]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: AU, Christmas, Established Relationship, Everyone Lives Together, F/M, Fluff, Post-Sburb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-06
Updated: 2011-12-06
Packaged: 2017-10-26 23:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/289295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallacyFallacy/pseuds/FallacyFallacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Christmas tree is twinkling, there are carols on the radio, and Jade decides to introduce Tavros to the wonders of gingerbread.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Christmas to You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this prompt](http://homesmut.livejournal.com/11895.html?thread=22001271#t22001271) on the Kink Meme: _Tav/Jade is an OTP of mine, and there is not NEARLY enough stuff out there for them. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I propose a prompt:_  
>  TavJade.  
> And not just any TavJade. Oh no. I'm talking steady, slow-kindled passion under endless adoration and goofy friendship. I'm talking the kind of pairing you'd be hard-pressed to see holding hands in public, but they go home and constantly find themselves tangled up on the rug, or the kitchen floor, or in the garden, or under a quilt by the crackling fireplace. Take this where ever, set it where ever, I just need snuggly, warm, established TavJade. Desperately.

“We should make gingerbread!” Jade said suddenly, the game she was playing left on pause.

Tavros looked up from his book. “Uhh, what?”

“Gingerbread! I bet trolls don't have that, do they? Ohhhh, it's so good, you just _have_ to try it!” She was jittery and energetic all of a sudden, fists clenched on her lap – as usual when she got a good idea.

“Uh, that's, probably true. But the names are, sometimes different, so it's uh, hard to tell...”

“...oh.. Right.” Jade thought for a moment. “Have you ever had brown-coloured, kind of spicy cookies before?”

“I don't think so...but, uh, maybe...”

“Then...have you had...” she scrunched up her nose. “Never mind! The only way we'll be able to tell for sure is by making some and showing to you! So we still have to make them!”

“Uh, sure.” Tavros was pretty happy with that, actually. He wasn't always too excited about trying new things, and he was kind of nervous about actually cooking, but Jade seemed enthused enough, and any time he spent with Jade was time spent well.

“Awesome! Ah, we should probably go to the store to get some ingredients!” Without another thought she left her controller on the couch and stood up, walking over to the door. Somewhat bemused (shouldn't they – plan this out or something?), Tavros followed her.

Jade opened the front door. “Huh...” She raised her hand, looking at the snowflakes resting in there. “Guess we'd better bring an umbrella!”

“You really don't, um, need to go with me, you know. I can get them, uh, myself.” Well, okay, he'd need to find a recipe, too, but that wouldn't be too difficult?

Jade turned to him, cute blue polkadot umbrella in hand. “Do you not want me to come with you?” she teased.

“No, it's just that, uh, you said the other day that you don't like snow? Because it reminds you of your, uh, land and all?”

Jade smiled at him suddenly, leaning her head to one side. “Aww, I did say that, didn't I?” She leaned forward, brushing her hand over his. “But I do like _you_!”

Tavros blushed, even this soft touch from his matesprit sending his stomach into happy whirls. “Yeah,” he said shyly, “I think, that you've probably said that sometime, as well.”

With a giggle, Jade nodded. “Besides, I'm not sending you out into the cold alone! Especially so close to Christmas!”

Honestly, Tavros hadn't ever heard of Christmas until Jade told him all about it earlier this year, but he had always admired Jade's energy and enthusiasm, two traits which only seemed to get stronger and stronger the closer they got to this mythical holiday. And as worried as he was about the gift-giving part of it, well, the rest of it all sounded pretty nice. Certainly the idea of a holiday revolving around togetherness and reforging bonds with your friends didn't really sound very troll-like, but Tavros himself had never really felt that way, either.

He'd confessed that to Jade early on in their relationship, telling her that if she wanted a troll as her matesprit she probably shouldn't choose him.

She had looked at him, puzzled. “What makes you think I want a troll? Maybe I _want_ a human!”

“But,” he'd admitted to her, unable to even look her in the eyes as he spoke, “I don't, really feel like that, either. I don't know about, um, a lot of human stuff. I don't really, uh, feel either way...”

There'd been a pause, and then Jade had kissed his nose lightly. “Well, I don't care. Because I don't want a troll or a human. I want Tavros, regardless of what he is!”

Even now just remembering that made Tavros' heart swell. Jade was so kind to him, even though he'd often made mistakes and hurt her accidentally. As far as he was concerned, she was perfect.

“Oh, Jade and Tavros.” Kanaya stood in a nearby doorway. She wasn't wearing one of the brightly-coloured sweaters that John's dad had bought for everyone, but instead a much more quiet purple one Rose had knit for her, a small thread of blonde hair woven into the fabric to ward away the dreaded Sweater Curse. “Are you going to the store presently? I would appreciate it if you would retrieve some black pudding. Our supplies are almost depleted.”

Jade scrunched up her nose. “Geez, I don't know how you can eat that! It's so disgusting!”

“Unless you would prefer me to take other measures to obtain the necessary blood...”

“N-no, that's fine,” Tavros said, and the two girls laughed.

“Okay, we'll get that as well!” Jade waved, putting up the umbrella. Tavros shuffled up next to her and they walked outside.

That was another thing. During Sburb, they had figured out a way to bring back to life everyone who had died during the game. Afterwards, a combination of feeling bonded to one another and shared experiences meant that most of the trolls and all of the kids elected to live together in one big house. They could more than afford it with the money Jade's lusus – no, grandfather – had left her. (Tavros still felt guilty to that day about his part in his death, but a while ago Jade had ordered him to stop apologising for it, which, he hadn't really been able to do fully, but he'd tried.) It was pretty busy at times, and Tavros knew a lot of the trolls really didn't at all feel comfortable being bossed around by an adult human, but they were together and they mostly tried to be nice to each other and Vriska had, had kind of scared him at first, but she'd avoided him a lot, and then she'd begun a flushed relationship with John, and John had told him that she felt sorry for his death, and he wasn't totally sure of that, but he thought he believed it.

(Jade had glared at her a few times, but Tavros has convinced her to stop. If anyone was going to be doing any glaring it would be him. And he – tried, but the one time she turned around and caught him looking at her she just looked so sad that he had to stop.)

They stepped outside, walking carefully so as not to slip. Under the same umbrella, they huddled together, her arm brushing against his side now and then. When she turned to him, he could count her eyelashes. He blushed, glancing away. It wasn't normal for trolls to be so touchy and affectionate, especially in public. So when they had to get all up close together like this it was pretty embarrassing...but also kinda nice.

Although the weather was cool, his scarf and jacket were warm, and he could feel Jade's body heat beside him. He watched the snow fall quietly. It had never snowed on Alternia. Just another difference between this world and that.

“What do you think?”

Tavros turned. “Huh?”

“About snow. Alternia was too hot for it, right?”

Tavros nodded. “Yeah. We never had this. And, um, I like it? This planet is, is sometimes...too hot for us. And bright. At nighttime, Alternia was, uh, colder than Earth normally is. And it's really pretty.”

Jade smiled. “It is, isn't it?” She hummed a little. “Walking in a winter wonderlaaand...!”

They made their way to the store, buying the ingredients (as well as Kanaya's black pudding) and returned home. By their return trip it was beginning to snow more heavily and Jade pressed even closer to him.

“Are you okay? Your horns aren't cold?”

“Um. A little. But they don't really, uh, feel very much.”

When they went inside, Jade unwound his scarf for him, her hands brushing against his collar. He wanted to hug her. But, they were in a hallway, and someone could see them maybe? Instead he put a hand on her side as she did it. Jade smiled at him encouraging, and Tavros blushed. It was so weird being able to just...touch her like this. Whenever he wanted. But it was nice.

“All right...” Jade strode into the kitchen, pulling on an apron. “Here we go!” She pulled out the flour and eggs and milk, and then took out a bowl as well.

“Um, what should I do?”

“Hmm...well, I guess we just mix them together first of all?”

Tavros frowned. “Uh...shouldn't we, um, maybe look at a recipe? Or ask John's dad?”

Jade thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I'm sure we'll be fine! Gingerbread can't be that complicated, right?” she said, shaking in the flour. “We just – whoa!” She accidentally shook it took hard, and half the packet fell in. Jade squinted. “...well, I guess we'll just have to make a lot of gingerbread!”

“Um, maybe that's good, so then the other trolls can try it as well?”

“Of course! Yeah, we really should probably make a lot, shouldn't we? Don't want to leave anyone out!”

“Yeah!” Tavros looked around at the ingredients. Cautiously he removed an egg, holding it in both hands. “So, uh...why did you want to, uh, bake this?”

“Because!” Jade took another egg, smashing it enthusiastically against the side of the bowl. A couple of pieces of eggshell fell in, but Jade didn't seem to care, so that must not matter, he figured. “Everyone likes gingerbread, right? Well, most of the time, anyway.” She rolled her eyes. Tavros nodded. From what he'd heard from Jade, before Sburb John used to hate all kinds of baked things due to his father cooking too much. However, once they started living together, it seemed to Tavros like he was really trying to make his dad happy. John's adult still baked an awful lot, but now that he had a lot more people to cook for it evened out a lot. Now John had recently started reacting with horror at the idea of cakes and the like, but Jade assured him that it was just a joke by now.

“But mostly...” she turned to him and smiled. “I thought it might be a fun thing to do together!”

Tavros blinked, before blushing heavily. “U-uh, um, thanks,” he said.

Jade pouted at him suddenly, putting her hands on her hips. She didn't seem to have realised that they were still covered with flour, leaving marks on her skirt. “Hey! I thought I told you to stop doing that!”

“Doing – what?”

“Thanking me for things like that and apologising and stuff! We're friends, you don't need to do any of that!”

“O-oh.” He paused. He hesitated. But then he said it. “Sorry...”

Jade glared at him, causing the mischievous little smile on his face to widen slightly further. With split-second speed (had Dave been teaching her to flashstep?) she reached into the packet of flour on the counter and threw a handful at him.

He stared down at it. Oh, dear. His red and green sweater would need to be washed, now. But... He looked up again to see Jade smirking at him, arms crossed, particles of flour falling down her chest as well. But...if the sweater already needed to be washed, well, he couldn't make it any worse, could he? Same with Jade's clothes. So...

Acting quickly before he could start to doubt himself, Tavros grabbed some flour from the bowl and...sort of lightly tossed it at Jade? It was a bit stickier because of the egg, but, um, it was the thought that counted, probably.

Jade seemed to agree. She growled loudly in mock-anger and grabbed another handful. Like earlier, it went everywhere – over his clothes, his skin, the floor. But that didn't seem to matter much. He grabbed some more himself, and soon a whole war had started between them. They exchanged throws back and forth, letting out squeals of delight or frustration when they hit or were hit. Very quickly Jade accidentally knocked the packet over, sending a great deal of flour all over her. Seeing her looking so surprised and half-covered in white made Tavros laugh aloud, a loud snorting thing that he surely would have caught and stifled had he been paying attention, and in response Jade rammed into him like a bull, wrapping her arms around him and covering as much of his body as she could.

Tavros squeaked, falling over at the unexpected weight (his legs were sturdy but he had never quite gotten the hang of balancing properly), sitting back on the kitchen floor with Jade on his lap.

“That's, cheating, probably,” he gasped, unnecessarily putting a hand to her shoulder to steady her.

“All's fair in love and war,” Jade said in a sing-song voice, which was probably a reference he didn't get, but then she was holding him tightly again and kissing him on the lips.

Tavros' heart pounded and his eyelashes flickered. Feeling hazy and goofy, he kissed her back, closing his eyes and smiling.

“WHAT THE GRUB-MUNCHING FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!”

Tavros gasped and leant back, his whole face turning brown with embarrassment as he turned to Karkat in the doorway.

Jade leaned further over him and glared. “Hey! What business of it is yours if we kiss, fuckass? We're going out, and if you don't like it, then you can fuck off!”

He sent her them both a withering look. The impact was not lessened by the brightly coloured sleighbeast with a red nose grinning on his chest. “I don't mean your wriggler-like fumblings, you two infantile shitstains, although being forced to watch you two act like lovey-dovey pity partners from a fucking shitty romance novel all day DOES threaten to send my thinkpan flying straight out of my cranium and towards a place where people have some basic fucking concept of 'getting a room',” he yelled, and then swept his arm dramatically before him. “I meant all of _that_.”

Jade and Tavros looked downward, taking in the sight of the totally flour-covered floor, and then up at the almost empty packet.

“...oh.” Jade said.

“Yes. _That_. Now do you think you two could taking your fucking hands off each other for five fucking minutes and clean all this ridiculous human bilgeshit up before we all get blamed for your idiocy?!”

Tavros shivered. Oh god, why did they do this? He saw at the beginning that the flour was getting everywhere – he should have just smiled and let it go! And it all happened because he wasn't doing what Jade asked him to... And now they'd have to spent time cleaning up, which Jade hated doing, and Karkat was angry with them, though, uh, he was pretty much always angry with, with everyone, but he was even angrier than normal, and -

“Fine!” Jade stood up, brushing some of the dust from her sweater and skirt. “I guess we'll just have to do that, then! I'll get the dustpan!” With a smile, she skipped over to the pantry, rummaging around.

Tavros gave Karkat a smile he hoped was encouraging, but was probably more of an awkward wince. “Uh, yeah, we'll do that.”

“Good! Now fucking get to it before John's lusus comes back and culls us all for our incompetency.” Tavros tensed, even as he knew that John's dad would never do something like that. Jade merely stepped back enough to stick her tongue out at Karkat, but he had already left, grumbling obscenities under his breath.

Jade rolled her eyes. “Seriously, ignore him. He's just jealous.”

“Uhh...”

“Ah! Here it is!” Jade held up the pan triumphantly. “Okay, so I'll hold the pan and you sweep, okay?”

He did so, and as they worked Jade continued to chat, talking about how great their gingerbread was going to be, then what other kinds of things they should bake next, and then all kinds of other human foods Tavros still had to try out, and then all these human games she was still planning to show him (“You have to try Pokemon! I just know you're going to love it!”), and all sorts of other things. Tavros chimed in every now and then, but mostly he was content to listen to her, sneaking glances when he thought she wasn't looking, and blushing when he was caught (nearly every time).

Eventually they managed to clean up all the flour from the floor and counters, and even got most off the clothes they were wearing. They would probably have to change later, but they decided that it would be a bit silly to change into clean clothes before they finished cooking and risk dirtying more clothing.

“All right! Now we can actually get back to the gingerbread...” Jade said sheepishly, scratching her cheek.

“Uh, s-”

Jade glared at him. “Do you want to start all of this over again?”

Tavros pursed his lips and Jade giggled. “Good!” she said, turning once more to the ingredients.

“So, we lost some of the stuff in the bowl... Maybe we should just add the rest of the flour, plus another egg? Or two, do you think?”

“Uh...” Tavros looked down at their mixture. It didn't look particularly appetising at the moment, but he'd never really cooked anything before, so he didn't really know. His lusus had always cooked for him.

“What?” Tavros started – he hadn't even realised he wanted to say anything until Jade prompted him.

He hesitated. “I just thought that...maybe, uh, we should have a look at a recipe?” Jade frowned, and he hastened to explain himself. “I know, uh, that cooking is, is the main point, and that cooking without a recipe is probably, um, more exciting, or something, I don't really... But, it would be nice to be able to, uhh, make something for the others, so we can all eat it together?” He glanced away, discomforted by the strength of Jade's gaze.

“...okay. I guess that does make sense.” Jade kissed his cheek and he looked up at her in surprise. “If you want to do it, we will!”

“Uh...I don't really... I mean, if you...” Tavros mumbled, but Jade was already searching through the cupboards for a cookbook, and if he was honest a little part of him was pleased she had thought his suggestion was a good one.

She found one, and they managed to find a recipe that fit with the ingredients they had bought plus the ones they found in the kitchen. They didn't really know how much they had already put in, but they did the best that they could, somehow managing to find a compromise between Jade's reckless desire to improvise and add as much of each ingredient as 'seemed right' and Tavros' nervousness about deviating from the directions even a little. Eventually they ended up with a batter that seemed pretty much as the recipe had described. Together they rolled it out, cutting little tree and people shapes in the dough.

“Here!” Jade said suddenly, holding up a bit of the dough to him. Tavros hesitated, and Jade rolled her eyes. “It's just gingerbread! Geez, we're going to be eating it after it's cooked, anyway!”

“B-but...shouldn't we, uh, adding them to the cookies, instead of, um, eating them...?”

“Of course not! That's the best part about cooking, isn't it? After all, if you're taking the trouble to make it, you should get a little extra, shouldn't you?”

That _did_ seem to make sense. “Well...okay.” He opened his mouth and Jade placed the dough inside, squeaking quietly when his lips touched her finger; he turned away, hoping no-one else would appear at the door. They didn't, and as he chewed the mixture, he had to admit that it tasted very good. The sweetness of the sugar combined with the spices of the ginger in a very pleasing way, and as soon as he swallowed he wished he could eat some more.

“That's, very good,” he said, and Jade beamed, holding up another piece, before eating some herself.

They continued to work, nibbling gingerbread every now and then. Tavros privately felt they were probably eating a little too much, but Jade's argument _had_ sounded very reasonable, and it was delicious, and he could never quite bring himself to deny her.

However, Jade couldn't stay quiet for long, and soon started giggling beside him. He turned, and she pointed to the shape she had just cut out. “Tavros, Tavros! Is this you?” She had added two little rolls of gingerbread to the figure's head so they resembled horns.

Tavros blushed, glancing down at his own shapes. “Uhh...I...”

Jade squealed. “You made me as well!” she cried, pointing at the little woofbeast heads on the chests of some of the people. Suddenly she wrapped an arm around his waist, snuggling into his side. “That's soooo cute!”

“W-well...you did it, too...”

“Are you saying it isn't cute?” She pouted and he stumbled over his words.

“Of course it is! It is, uh, very cute, completely adorable, and-”

Jade giggled again, poking his side. “Just teasing you! Eheh, you get so cute whenever you get flustered like that...!”

“Urk...” Tavros closed his mouth, letting out an unguarded smile. After a few moments, he jolted back to reality. “Um, we should probably continue...”

“We should...” she said, but several seconds went by before she disentangled herself. “Okay! Who else should you do, do you think? Oh! We totally have to do glasses for John and Dave! And we can do everyone's symbols as well! Wow, your nails are really useful for that, aren't they?”

“That sounds good,” he said, and obligingly scratched the symbols and glasses in when she prompted him.

After some time – he had no idea how long – they were finally done, with only a little gingerbread left over that Jade offered to split with him. Finally, they set the pieces onto a tray with baking paper (only breaking a few of the figures in the process), and set the oven to what the recipe dictated.

“And we're done! Well, until we take them out and ice them, anyway! But still: I think we did a very good job, don't you?” She held out her hand for a high five, which he returned.

“Yeah, I think everyone will, uh, really enjoy these,” he said, unable to stop himself from grinning. Everyone would be so happy when they realised what they had made for them! What he had helped to make for them. He, himself!

But even if they didn't, the grin Jade was sending him was enough for him. “Yeah! I think we've earned a good break, don't you?”

“That does sound, good.”

Jade took his hand, the firmness of her grip as always contrasting with the almost shyness of her smile. Together they walked into one of the back rooms. It was a relatively small one, with merely a couch, coffee table, number of chairs, and a large fireplace. As with all of the rooms it was thoroughly decorated for Christmas – there were a couple of cards on the mantelpiece, shiny streamers wound around the walls, and there was a small Santa figurine on the table. From what he had heard in conversations between Rose and Kanaya, all of this was very 'over the top' and even 'tacky', but it personally swelled his heart to see them, and he could tell from Kanaya's wry smiles whenever she entered the house that she agreed.

Jade certainly did, immediately going to the radio and turning it to a particular station. Music filled the room, the quiet, content melody making Jade close her eyes briefly, fingers trailing over the buttons.

 _And so I'm offering this simple phrase_  
To kids from one to ninety-two  
Although it's been said many times, many ways  
Merry Christmas to you

“Christmas,” Jade breathed, as though that explained everything. Tavros didn't quite understand yet, but he thought that maybe he would soon.

Jade turned to him again, again looking up at him with an intensity that made him blush, except this time the emotion was not scrutiny but...caring. This was even more embarrassing and Tavros turned away, sitting on the couch by the arm.

Jade followed him, sitting beside him and pushing him over lightly so they were both lying down. They had long since learned to think of his horns by now, and they easily settled into a comfortable position.

From her position on his chest, Jade again gave him that look. This time, when Tavros tried to look away, she caught his cheek, turning it back to her.

“Don't look away,” she said quietly, almost in a whisper. The light of the fireplace made shadows dance across her cheeks, heightened the glitter in her eyes.

“Yes,” he replied before he could think.

“I really do love you, you know,” Jade said, brushing his cheek lightly with her finger.

“Ah...” His stomach roiled in a way that was, mostly pleasurable. No – it _was_ pleasurable. “M-me too. I also, uh, love you.”

Jade giggled, leaning forward to kiss him on the lips.

Yeah, Tavros thought. In a little less than 50 minutes they would have to go back to the kitchen and take out the gingerbread to ice it. Jade would discover the little Tavros and Jade gingerbread people that Tavros had covertly pressed together at the hand, and would squeal and hug him. Then they would invite all their friends down and they'd all eat it and love it and praise them for making such delicious food, but Jade would merely laugh and shrug it off. Then they'd probably have to go and get changed, and – and probably clean this couch, too, actually. Uh. Oops. But Jade would make it fun, and then they'd hang out with the others and play games and then they'd go to bed and – kiss, and then in a few days it would be Christmas and everyone would take a break from their arguments (though they didn't argue as much now as, as they used to, but they still did a bit) and just have fun, and everything would be beautiful and nothing would hurt.

Yeah, Tavros thought. _Christmas._


End file.
